Joel's Fantasy Economics: introductions

The Novels

Economics 101, a Novel (Rough Draft) -- My first sustained attempt at a novel, two-thirds finished in rough draft, and heading a little too far south.

What would you do if you and your study partner, with whom you had been seriously discussing marriage, suddenly found yourselves all alone together on a desert island? Study economics?

Sociology 500, a Romance (Second Draft) -- The first book in the Economics 101 Trilogy.(On hold.)

Karel and Dan, former American football teammates and now graduate students, meet fellow graduate students Kristie and Bobbie, and the four form a steady study group.

Showing posts with label introductions. Show all posts

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 4 -- They Meet Each Other

TOC

Previous

So, how did Karel and Bobbie end up making each others' acquaintance?

How about Dan and Kristie?

A few days before classes began, Bobbie was seated in Professor MacVittie's office discussing her preliminary plans for her doctoral thesis.

"I see your plans include spending some time observing and interviewing the local people on-location in," and he named named an island country which has no corollary in our world.

"Yes. I think fieldwork there will better support my thesis than most other places."

"Well, I'm not sure we can make any promises about sending faculty to supervise your fieldwork there. We may have to ask you to adjust those plans."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I guess."

"It will be easier to arrange supervision if you can combine your fieldwork with other students."

"I had assumed there would be other students to work with out in the field. But that's not guaranteed, is it?"

"No, it's not. Would you be interested in working with another student who is planning his thesis in a similar area?"

"Uhm, his? Only one other student?"

"Uh, yes. His planned thesis is in island economics, and he wants to go to the same group of islands. I'm thinking you would find quite a bit that you could cooperate on."

"You're not trying to set me up with some guy, are you?"

"Set you up? No. We don't play games like that with students' lives."

Bobbie was not looking convinced.

"This other student is preparing for admission to the PhD track program at about the same time as you, and since he plans include fieldwork in the same islands as you, ..."

"And he's a guy."

"As it turns out. Don't hold it against him. If we can't plan on the two of you working together, we're looking at you being out in the islands alone during most of the fieldwork phase. If you're alone, you'll have no one to back you up in case of emergency."

"And girls shouldn't be out in the big, wide, dangerous world all by themselves."

"Neither should guys, without preparation."

"I am a nurse. I am no longer twenty. I think I can handle myself."

"That kind of attitude can put you in serious danger."

"I don't plan on going out unprepared, either."

"That's good."

Professor and student eyed each other warily, not quite sure where the conversation should go from there.

Professor MacVittie decided to push ahead anyway. "Look, I haven't talked with this other student about it yet. I thought I'd suggest it to you, and only mention it to him if you agreed."

"May I ask his name?"

"Karel Pratt. He"

Bobbie cut him short. "He was a football player here about five years ago." Her expression was unreadable.

"You know him?"

"No."

"Football is another of your interests?"

"Football is applied choreography, so, yes." Bobbie laughed. "But my mother showed me a newspaper article about him a month or so ago. It seems that football players with advanced degrees are a rarity."

"He has a bachelor's in physics and a master's in engineering, played football as a walk-on player."

"So he has a wide range of interests, too."

The professor grinned. "Yeah. A wide range of interests, just like you. I never said a wide range of interests was a bad thing. Quite the opposite, really. Anthropologists need a broad base to work from. I just wanted to make sure you realized you'd need to do a lot of work before you could focus on your thesis."

"Nothing about my being a woman?"

"I didn't say that. Woman do need to take more precautions than men when working in less developed societies."

"I guess I'll agree with that."

"You could help each other, if you could ignore the difference in gender. Especially since you are both interested in so many similar things, it should be easy for you to help each other."

"Similar interests?" Bobbie laughed to herself. "I guess I'm being a little defensive."

"You could meet in my office, if you'd feel more comfortable about it."

"I'd rather not meet him where he knows he has to behave himself. If he's interested, he can contact me. I'll see how he behaves, and we can work out whether we'll work together from there."

"So it's okay if I mention this to him, the next time I see him?"

"Oh, sure, I guess."

"I'll be talking with him on the first day of classes. Will that be too soon?"

"No, that'll be okay."

Professor White was not available to review Karel's preparation for pre-PhD work, so he had scheduled a visit with Professor MacVittie on the first day of classes. During their visit, they talked about fieldwork, and the professor suggested he consider working with Bobbie. Karel said he'd talk with her and see.

The question of how he would contact her didn't really occur to him until after he left Professor MacVittie's office.

After his meeting with the professor, he went to his first class, a graduate-level cross-discipline survey of education theories and topics. It would be under the direction of a team of three professors from different departments, with regular guest lecturers.

As he entered the lecture room, Karel looked for a seat at the front. PhD candidates were expected to show leadership, and he rightly assumed that the professors who would approve his candidacy and thesis would not perceive sitting in the back as showing leadership.

Whether the supervising professors would be right in such perception is a separate topic of consideration, which we will set aside.

As he moved to the front of the room, he saw some students he knew and greeted them. He also greeted some he hadn't yet met as he proceeded to the empty front row. Choosing a seat slightly to the left of center, he laughed silently to himself at the spurious, but accurate, potential political interpretation of his choice of seat.

Political left and right seem to have about the same meanings in the world of this novel, as well.

Yeah, Karel was a little distracted. He might have had more than one reason to choose the empty front row.

He didn't notice a petite, very pretty blonde who had come into the room after him. She waited, looking around the room, as he moved to the front. When Karel had sat down, she made her way to the seat to Karel's right. Heads turned, but she didn't pay any attention.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

If you called her a blonde bombshell, not many would disagree. She, herself, would. It wasn't her fault that some men gave her attention she didn't seek.

"Uhhn, no. No. Go ahead." Karel was still distracted.

"I'm Kristie Person, by the way," she said as she sat down. "I'm in the Master's program in education."

"Hi. Karel Pratt. Pre-PhD, Anthropology." After an awkward pause, he asked, "So this course is in your primary field?"

"Yes. I'm coming in from a bachelor's in PE, so my professors told me to take the survey class."

"I see."

"Karel, so nice to see you here!" Karel was not surprised by the voice behind him.

"Dan! You made it." Karel turned and slapped hands with Dan.

"So introduce me to your friend!" Dan said as he sat down on the other side of Kristie.

"I just met her, myself. Kristine Pierson. Right?"

Kristie was a bit non-plussed, but smiled anyway. "Sort of. My name is Kristine, but everyone calls me Kristie. And Person and Pierson are more or less the same name in Sweden."

Karel grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"You'll have to forgive my friend. He can be a bit of a goofball at times. I'm Dan Claymount. Karel and I used to play football together. He was much less clumsy on the football field."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Oh, that's right. I remember now." Now she remembers? We'll wink at that. "Dan was the quarterback five years ago, and you were the rover who made all the big plays."

The position of rover is a difficult position, as you can imagine. A rover has to have a grasp of what is happening with three balls at once, and must be fully prescient about where he can make the most effective play next.

It's also a bit of a thankless position. Even when the big play is made, someone probably could have made a bigger play if the rover had been there for them.

"He sure was." Dan concurred with Kristie's memory.

"No, I wasn't. Coach saved me to mix things up when we got stuck. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't."

"You're just being modest. I watched a lot of your games."

"Well, so you're a fan of the school's football program, I take it?" Karel tried to direct the topic of conversation away from himself.

"Yes! Football is one of my favorite sports!"

One of the professors stood up just then and greeted the students.

"Welcome, to this year's graduate survey in education topics. I'm Professor Donival. Please check your schedules to be sure you are in the right place." And he proceeded to explain the syllabus and assignment schedule.

And all of the students in the room busied themselves taking notes.

After about ten minutes, Professor Donival shifted from the course outline to the material for first lecture.

After another ten minutes, Karel became aware that the seat to his left was now occupied, and he looked over and nodded to the woman who was sitting there taking notes. Turning back to the blackboard, he forgot for a moment to breath. Mentally shaking himself, he deliberately returned his focus to the lecture.

At the end of the lecture, Karel turned again to his left. "I have notes from the first twenty minutes, if you'd like to copy them," he offered, opening to the first page in his notebook.

"Thanks. That would be nice," she said, and started copying. We missed her reaction when she sat down by Karel, but when she read Karel's name on the notebook, she was thinking to herself something like, "Of course it would be."

"You could copy my notes back at the apartment, Bobbie," Kristie was being helpful.

"You two are roommates?" Dan asked.

"Yes, actually. If you don't have time, Karel, ...," Bobbie said, feeling, but not showing, a bit of surprise at how easy it felt to say his name.

"No problem. Get it while it's fresh."

"Well, are you going to introduce me, Karel?" Dan prompted.

"Oh. Bobbie Whitmer, meet Dan Claymount. He and I were on the football team about five years ago. Should I tell her what you are doing your masters work in, Dan?" Karel was anything but surprised at how pleasant it felt to say her name.

"Underwater basketweaving," Dan replied.

Bobbie looked up, amused. "Sports education, with a coaching emphasis."

"How did you know?"

"Read your mind. Karel's mind is not as transparent."

"I see." Dan clearly did not see. For him, not being sure of his position was a rare thing, both on the football field and off, and he felt himself rising to the challenge. "Say, is anyone going to the opening social tonight?"

"Maybe we can make it a foursome?" Kristie rose to the challenge.

What Bobbie and Karel were thinking at this point would be hard to say. For separate reasons, they had learned to go with the flow in social situations, waiting for opening gambits to play out before deciding which way to move.

And they were as surprised as I think we are at how natural it felt for them to suddenly be old friends.

"Sounds good. What do you think, Bobbie?"

"Why not?"

TOC

[Previous versions backed up here: http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/backup-soc500-01-04-meet-each-other.html.]

[The original of this chapter can be found here: http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch03-introducing.html.]

Backup: Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 4 -- They Meet Each Other

[JMR201704121526: metadata-edit -- Name.]
Sociology 500, a {replace}Novel{with}Romance{replace.}, ch 1 pt 4 -- They Meet Each Other

[JMR201704121526: end-metadata-edit.]

[JMR201702051733: edit -- That's not a department social.]

The position of rover is a difficult position, as you can imagine. {replace}One{with}A rover{replace.} has to have a grasp of what is happening with three balls at once, and must be fully prescient about where he can make the most effective play next.

It's also a bit of a thankless position. Even when the big play is made, someone {add}probably {add.}could have made a bigger play if the rover had been there for them.

"I see." Dan clearly did not see. For him, not being sure of his position was a rare thing, both on the football field and off, and he felt himself rising to the challenge. "Say, is anyone going to the {strike}department{strike.} opening social tonight?"

[JMR201702051733: end-edit]

[JMR201702050135: edit -- Admit Dan and Kristie are also protagonists in this.]
{add}
How about Dan and Kristie?
{add.}

[JMR201702050135: end-edit]

[JMR201702041226: edits -- Added better reasons for suggesting Bobbie and Karel work together, corrected some sloppy writing. ]

"I see your plans include spending some time observing and interviewing the local people on-location {replace}in the islands."{with}in," and he named named an island country which has no corollary in our world.{replace.}

{replace}"Yes, I'm hoping to support my thesis with fieldwork."
{with}
"Yes. I think fieldwork there will better support my thesis than most other places."
{replace.}

"Well, I'm not sure we can make any promises about sending faculty to supervise your fieldwork{add} there{add.}. We may have to ask you to adjust those plans."

"No, it's not. {replace}You might{with}Would you{replace.} be interested in working with another student who is planning his thesis in a similar area?"

"As it turns out. Don't hold it against him. If we can't plan on the two of you working together, we're looking at you being out in the islands alone during most of the fieldwork phase. If you're alone, you'll have no {replace}backup{with}one to back you up{replace.} in case of emergency."

The question of how he would contact her didn't really occur to him until after he left Professor {replace}White's{with}MacVittie's{replace.} office.

After another ten minutes, Karel became aware that the seat to his left was now occupied, and he looked over and nodded to the woman who was {strike}now{strike.} sitting there taking notes. Turning back to the blackboard, he forgot for a moment to breath. Mentally shaking himself, he deliberately returned his focus to the lecture.

"I see." Dan clearly did not see. For him, not being sure of his position was a rare thing, both on the football field and off, and he felt himself rising to the challenge. "Say, is anyone going to the {add}department {add.}opening social tonight?"

And they were as surprised as I think we are at how natural it felt {add}for them {add.}to suddenly be old friends.

[JMR201702041226: end-edits]

[JMR201702041221: backup of http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/soc500-01-04-meet-each-other.html before fixing the fieldwork location issues.]

TOC

Previous

So, how did Karel and Bobbie end up making each others' acquaintance?

A few days before classes began, Bobbie was seated in Professor MacVittie's office discussing her preliminary plans for her doctoral thesis.

"I see your plans include spending some time observing and interviewing the local people on-location in the islands."

"Yes, I'm hoping to support my thesis with fieldwork."

"Well, I'm not sure we can make any promises about sending faculty to supervise your fieldwork. We may have to ask you to adjust those plans."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I guess."

"It will be easier to arrange supervision if you can combine your fieldwork with other students."

"I had assumed there would be other students to work with out in the field. But that's not guaranteed, is it?"

"No, it's not. You might be interested in working with another student who is planning his thesis in a similar area?"

"Uhm, his? Only one other student?"

"Uh, yes. His planned thesis is in island economics, and he wants to go to the same group of islands. I'm thinking you would find quite a bit that you could cooperate on."

"You're not trying to set me up with some guy, are you?"

"Set you up? No. We don't play games like that with students' lives."

Bobbie was not looking convinced.

"This other student is preparing for admission to the PhD track program at about the same time as you, and since he plans include fieldwork in the same islands as you, ..."

"And he's a guy."

"As it turns out. Don't hold it against him. If we can't plan on the two of you working together, we're looking at you being out in the islands alone during most of the fieldwork phase. If you're alone, you'll have no backup in case of emergency."

"And girls shouldn't be out in the big, wide, dangerous world all by themselves."

"Neither should guys, without preparation."

"I am a nurse. I am no longer twenty. I think I can handle myself."

"That kind of attitude can put you in serious danger."

"I don't plan on going out unprepared, either."

"That's good."

Professor and student eyed each other warily, not quite sure where the conversation should go from there.

Professor MacVittie decided to push ahead anyway. "Look, I haven't talked with this other student about it yet. I thought I'd suggest it to you, and only mention it to him if you agreed."

"May I ask his name?"

"Karel Pratt. He"

Bobbie cut him short. "He was a football player here about five years ago." Her expression was unreadable.

"You know him?"

"No."

"Football is another of your interests?"

"Football is applied choreography, so, yes." Bobbie laughed. "But my mother showed me a newspaper article about him a month or so ago. It seems that football players with advanced degrees are a rarity."

"He has a bachelor's in physics and a master's in engineering, played football as a walk-on player."

"So he has a wide range of interests, too."

The professor grinned. "Yeah. A wide range of interests, just like you. I never said a wide range of interests was a bad thing. Quite the opposite, really. Anthropologists need a broad base to work from. I just wanted to make sure you realized you'd need to do a lot of work before you could focus on your thesis."

"Nothing about my being a woman?"

"I didn't say that. Woman do need to take more precautions than men when working in less developed societies."

"I guess I'll agree with that."

"You could help each other, if you could ignore the difference in gender. Especially since you are both interested in so many similar things, it should be easy for you to help each other."

"Similar interests?" Bobbie laughed to herself. "I guess I'm being a little defensive."

"You could meet in my office, if you'd feel more comfortable about it."

"I'd rather not meet him where he knows he has to behave himself. If he's interested, he can contact me. I'll see how he behaves, and we can work out whether we'll work together from there."

"So it's okay if I mention this to him, the next time I see him?"

"Oh, sure, I guess."

"I'll be talking with him on the first day of classes. Will that be too soon?"

"No, that'll be okay."

Professor White was not available to review Karel's preparation for pre-PhD work, so he had scheduled a visit with Professor MacVittie on the first day of classes. During their visit, they talked about fieldwork, and the professor suggested he consider working with Bobbie. Karel said he'd talk with her and see.

The question of how he would contact her didn't really occur to him until after he left Professor White's office.

After his meeting with the professor, he went to his first class, a graduate-level cross-discipline survey of education theories and topics. It would be under the direction of a team of three professors from different departments, with regular guest lecturers.

As he entered the lecture room, Karel looked for a seat at the front. PhD candidates were expected to show leadership, and he rightly assumed that the professors who would approve his candidacy and thesis would not perceive sitting in the back as showing leadership.

Whether the supervising professors would be right in such perception is a separate topic of consideration, which we will set aside.

As he moved to the front of the room, he saw some students he knew and greeted them. He also greeted some he hadn't yet met as he proceeded to the empty front row. Choosing a seat slightly to the left of center, he laughed silently to himself at the spurious, but accurate, potential political interpretation of his choice of seat.

Political left and right seem to have about the same meanings in the world of this novel, as well.

Yeah, Karel was a little distracted. He might have had more than one reason to choose the empty front row.

He didn't notice a petite, very pretty blonde who had come into the room after him. She waited, looking around the room, as he moved to the front. When Karel had sat down, she made her way to the seat to Karel's right. Heads turned, but she didn't pay any attention.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

If you called her a blonde bombshell, not many would disagree. She, herself, would. It wasn't her fault that some men gave her attention she didn't seek.

"Uhhn, no. No. Go ahead." Karel was still distracted.

"I'm Kristie Person, by the way," she said as she sat down. "I'm in the Master's program in education."

"Hi. Karel Pratt. Pre-PhD, Anthropology." After an awkward pause, he asked, "So this course is in your primary field?"

"Yes. I'm coming in from a bachelor's in PE, so my professors told me to take the survey class."

"I see."

"Karel, so nice to see you here!" Karel was not surprised by the voice behind him.

"Dan! You made it." Karel turned and slapped hands with Dan.

"So introduce me to your friend!" Dan said as he sat down on the other side of Kristie.

"I just met her, myself. Kristine Pierson. Right?"

Kristie was a bit non-plussed, but smiled anyway. "Sort of. My name is Kristine, but everyone calls me Kristie. And Person and Pierson are more or less the same name in Sweden."

Karel grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"You'll have to forgive my friend. He can be a bit of a goofball at times. I'm Dan Claymount. Karel and I used to play football together. He was much less clumsy on the football field."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Oh, that's right. I remember now." Now she remembers? We'll wink at that. "Dan was the quarterback five years ago, and you were the rover who made all the big plays."

The position of rover is a difficult position, as you can imagine. One has to have a grasp of what is happening with three balls at once, and must be fully prescient about where he can make the most effective play next.

It's also a bit of a thankless position. Even when the big play is made, someone could have made a bigger play if the rover had been there for them.

"He sure was." Dan concurred with Kristie's memory.

"No, I wasn't. Coach saved me to mix things up when we got stuck. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't."

"You're just being modest. I watched a lot of your games."

"Well, so you're a fan of the school's football program, I take it?" Karel tried to direct the topic of conversation away from himself.

"Yes! Football is one of my favorite sports!"

One of the professors stood up just then and greeted the students.

"Welcome, to this year's graduate survey in education topics. I'm Professor Donival. Please check your schedules to be sure you are in the right place." And he proceeded to explain the syllabus and assignment schedule.

And all of the students in the room busied themselves taking notes.

After about ten minutes, Professor Donival shifted from the course outline to the material for first lecture.

After another ten minutes, Karel became aware that the seat to his left was now occupied, and he looked over and nodded to the woman who was now sitting there taking notes. Turning back to the blackboard, he forgot for a moment to breath. Mentally shaking himself, he deliberately returned his focus to the lecture.

At the end of the lecture, Karel turned again to his left. "I have notes from the first twenty minutes, if you'd like to copy them," he offered, opening to the first page in his notebook.

"Thanks. That would be nice," she said, and started copying. We missed her reaction when she sat down by Karel, but when she read Karel's name on the notebook, she was thinking to herself something like, "Of course it would be."

"You could copy my notes back at the apartment, Bobbie," Kristie was being helpful.

"You two are roommates?" Dan asked.

"Yes, actually. If you don't have time, Karel, ...," Bobbie said, feeling, but not showing, a bit of surprise at how easy it felt to say his name.

"No problem. Get it while it's fresh."

"Well, are you going to introduce me, Karel?" Dan prompted.

"Oh. Bobbie Whitmer, meet Dan Claymount. He and I were on the football team about five years ago. Should I tell her what you are doing your masters work in, Dan?" Karel was anything but surprised at how pleasant it felt to say her name.

"Underwater basketweaving," Dan replied.

Bobbie looked up, amused. "Sports education, with a coaching emphasis."

"How did you know?"

"Read your mind. Karel's mind is not as transparent."

"I see." Dan clearly did not see. For him, not being sure of his position was a rare thing, both on the football field and off, and he felt himself rising to the challenge. "Say, is anyone going to the opening social tonight?"

"Maybe we can make it a foursome?" Kristie rose to the challenge.

What Bobbie and Karel were thinking at this point would be hard to say. For separate reasons, they had learned to go with the flow in social situations, waiting for opening gambits to play out before deciding which way to move.

And they were as surprised as I think we are at how natural it felt to suddenly be old friends.

"Sounds good. What do you think, Bobbie?"

"Why not?"

TOC

[No backup of previous versions yet.]

[The original of this chapter can be found here: http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch03-introducing.html.]
[JMR201702041221: end-backup]

Friday, February 3, 2017

Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 3 -- Football and a Little History

TOC

Previous

You may be wondering which football it was that Dan and Karel played. Maybe not.

Well, I think it's interesting, so I'll tell you about it.

It's closer to our world's American Football or Australian Rules Football than to either Soccer or Rugby. But there is a big difference.

Some time in ancient history, a wise king had decreed that there would be no games played against an opponent. The language of that kingdom had a singular article, think "un" or "una" in spanish, and the king used it in his decree -- not against "an" opponent.

So the people started arranging their games against multiple opponents. Since multiple opponents implies cooperation, fanatical partisanship was significantly reduced, and the games became much less bloody, much less wasteful of the human resources of the kingdom.

As ball games replaced games with the sword, club, and lance, ball games also tended to be played with multiple teams in a match.

The football Dan and Karel played had a circular field, with three end-zones and three goals. Even though the flow of the game for any one ball would be stop-and-go, with downs, punts, goal-kicks, touchdowns, kickoffs, etc., there would be three balls in play at any particular time during the game.

Yes, the ball was an ovoid, to make it roll funny.

Each team had twenty-two players. In the most common configuration, ten would be defending their own goal, and the other twelve would be divided six-and-six to attack the other two goals. To have any hope of successfully attacking either opponent's goal, their offense would have to team up with players from the other opponent's team.

Thus, the play tended to be rather cooperative, and the spectators tended to root for all the teams instead of just for their own. The whole attitude of the game tended to resemble a carnival more than a war, and tailgate parties would often include fans of both of the opponents' teams.

Another configuration, common in the early years of the game, but less common in Dan's and Karel's day, was to have nine players on defense, to free one player to be a rover.

The rover was allowed to go anywhere on the field at any time. He could run with the ball, pass it, or kick it. The three things he was not allowed to do were (1) to take the snap from center on a down, (2) to run the ball over an opponent's goal line in either direction, or (3) to receive the ball to score. He could pass it in or kick it for a score, but he could not receive it for a score or run it in. If he received the ball when he was behind the goal line, he would have to pass, not run, it out before someone else could try to score.

Why do I think this is important enough to mention here? We shall see.

TOC

[Backup and edit history are here: http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/backup-soc500-01-03-football.html.]

[This chapter was not in the rough draft. It might come around chapter 02, http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch02-introducing.html, or chapter 03, http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch03-introducing.html.]

Backup: Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 3 -- Football and a Little History

[JMR201704121513: metadata edit -- annotation.]

[This chapter was not in the rough draft.{add} It might come around chapter 02, http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch02-introducing.html, or chapter 03, http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch03-introducing.html.{add.}]

[JMR201704121513: end metadata edit.]

[JMR201704121455: metadata edit -- Name.]

Sociology 500, a {replace}Novel{with}Romance{replace.}, ch 1 pt 3 -- Football and a Little History

[JMR201704121455: end metadata edit.]

[JMR201702261153: backup of http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/soc500-01-03-football.html.]

TOC

[No backup of previous versions yet.]

[This chapter was not in the rough draft.]
[JMR201702261153: end backup.]

Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 2 -- Introducing Karel

TOC

Previous

Two more people we want to meet, here.

Karel turned the ignition key off. As his ears adjusted to the lack of engine noise, he was able to hear the birds singing in his friend, Dan's family's garden. He sat back and relaxed.

The door of the house opened and Dan stuck his head out the door. "Hey, Karel, how the heck are you?"

"Not bad for just finishing a five hour drive. How about you? Got your stuff?"

"Yeah, I got my stuff, but come on in and say hi to the family. My little sister's dying to see you again."

Two voices chorused in unison from inside the house. "Dan!"

Karel opened the car door and stretched his legs. "Your little sister ignores me whenever I come."

Dan ducked back in and came outside, carrying a briefcase and a backpack. "Unless you give her a ride on your shoulders," he replied.

The door opened again behind Dan, and a seventeen year old girl came running out and slapped the back of her brother's head. He just grinned.

Karel stood up and walked around the car, and gave the girl a hug. "My you've grown, Sheliah. Wanna piggy-back ride?"

"Mom says I'm getting too old."

"Ah well. Are you gonna marry me when you turn twenty?"

"Mom says you have to find someone your own age before then."

"Darn. She's probably right about that, though."

"When are you gonna find someone as cool as me?"

"That's a tall order. But I'll let you know when I do."

Karel went in and said hi to the Claymount family while Dan threw his stuff on the back seat. After catching up on family news for a few minutes he and Dan got in the car and headed out of town.

Dan had promised to drive at least half of the way. But Karel knew Dan would be tired from the long bus ride home, and he wanted to leave enough time to stop for a nap somewhere on the road.

They talked, and Karel joked, "I don't know whether I'm better friends with you or your family sometimes."

"Yeah. We're too busy to keep up with each other. Sure is too bad the team waived you after your second year."

"Too bad about missing the playoffs these last two years."

"I told Jack when he decided to drop you from the team that we just didn't have the depth without you. No depth, no risks, no forward progress."

"He obviously thought he had the depth without me."

"I don't think that was it. He was just mad at you for sticking to principles. That time you asked him to take down the nude centerfolds in the locker room really bugged him."

"That and my unpredictable nature on the field."

"Heh. Well, yeah. Unpredictable. But we've been watching reels of other teams. The really good players don't always stick to the patterns."

"Football can't last forever."

"Which is why I let you talk me into checking out grad school with you, right?"

"Right. Meet any interesting women since we talked last?"

"Lots, but it seems they either are not interested in football, or they aren't interested in E-P-ism. How about you?"

"Same as always."

The conversation continued for a while and Dan drifted off to sleep. About midnight, Karel pulled the car off the road at a rest stop. Dan rolled out a sleeping bag in the back seat and Karel did the same in the front, and they both slept until the pre-dawn dusk woke them up. A short walk along the highway helped them clear their heads, and then they got back on the road.

We used to do that in our world, too, up until the mid-1980s. We can't do it any more. Too many problems with criminal activities going on in the middle of the night, so the highway police have to wake you up and tell you to move on.

But in the time frame of this story in the world of this novel, it was standard operating procedure for students traveling the long distances between home and college, especially for male students.

A bit after nine in the morning, Karel parked the car in a school parking lot and and woke Dan up.

"Hey, we're here," he said, shaking him gently by the shoulder.

Even after sleeping, Dan had not been feeling safe behind the wheel. So Karel had driven on in the rest of the way.

"Oh, man. Sorry I couldn't wake up."

"That's okay. You can drive on the road back."

"Has it been five years?"

"Five for you. Since I finished up my master's during the off-season while we were playing pro, it's only been three for me."

"Yeah. So, I'm going to the PE department to look at a graduate degree in sports education while you check out the anthropology department, right?"

"That's the plan."

"And you'll come down to the PE department to look at studying dance education as an option to anthropology, right?"

"Right. So we'll meet down there and then go get some lunch."

And that is how it was that Karel was sitting in the anthropology department offices, tired from the long drive, trying to read application form instructions, when Bobbie came in that morning. And why he wasn't there when she came back.

He did get an afternoon appointment to talk with a member of the faculty before he left.

"Hey, Karel, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

"You look like you just lost a friend."

"Just kicking myself for not trying to get a girl's phone number."

"That happens."

"Didn't even introduce myself. I only said something stupid like 'Nice day.'"

"Heh. Hey, don't sweat it. If it was meant to be, you'll get another chance."

"You should talk."

"True. Girls just don't understand us boys. Did you get an interview?"

"Got an appointment for the afternoon."

"Me, too. Are you going to go in and ask about the dance program or what?"

"I'm going, I'm going."

In the dance office, one of the professors was available to talk, but she was not encouraging.

"We just don't have the expertise to help you with teaching dance to football players, and, frankly, I don't think the football body would train well in dance. Getting the turnout would be nearly impossible."

"I know it would be pioneering, but I'm willing to put in the effort."

"I really hate to be so discouraging, but I can't promise that any of the faculty here would be able to put in enough effort to help you. We're up to our necks in our own curriculum."

Karel must not have hidden his disappointment well.

She continued, "Look, you have another option you're considering, right?"

"Yeah. Anthropology."

"Maybe that's going to be a stretch for you, too, but I think it will be less of a stretch."

On his way out of the office, he noticed a poster on the wall.

"What's this?"

"Oh, that's from several years back. A master's candidate from," and she named the school Karel remembered Bobbie saying she'd gotten her master's from in the morning, "came to do some workshops in modern dance here. It was very exciting. I keep the poster as a reminder."

"Roberta Whitmer."

"Do you know her?"

"Know her? Can't say that I do."

After that, they went up to the school cafeteria, showed their alumni cards, and got lunch. While they were eating, they talked about the morning.

"I can't believe she just basically turned me down flat."

"You've got to quit letting women walk all over you like that." Dan paused and thought while chewing. "But on the other hand, maybe that girl you didn't really meet this morning is part of your destiny."

For some reason, Karel had not mentioned her name, nor had he mentioned her other degrees. And he refrained from mentioning the poster, as well.

"Well, let's go to our interviews."

Karel's interview was with a Professor White. When Karel gave him his CV to look at, he scanned it, muttering, "mission, football, instrumentation technician, military, engineering, semiconductors, ... . Lots of experience. I don't see a connection. Why do you suddenly want to get a PhD in Anthropology?"

"When I was a missionary in," and he named the same mission that Bobbie had named, "I thought the islanders I worked among had an intuitive understanding of the cultural basis of economics and management. At that semiconductor company, I watched managers who seemed to have no interest in things cultural tear the company apart with bad management and worse economics. I think their lack of interest in the human factor was the proximate cause of their bad management."

"I see. So, what do you intend to research?"

"I want to describe the human factors of management and the simplified economic models they operate under."

At the time of this story, management was still not a separate field of studies at most universities in the world of this novel.

"Okay, that sounds like something we can work from. Tell me more about your background, so I can get an idea of the holes we need to fill."

And Karel explained how he had spent a lot of time over the last year working through anthropology texts and management theory books, commenting on how various popular philosophies seemed to induce a blindness towards management listening to what the workers have to say.

Of course, the holes Karel had to fill were different from Bobbie's. Where he could just monitor the senior-level anthropology research methodologies class, he would have to take the actual anthropologist's introduction to medicine and physiology.

And he also committed to correspond with Professor White for further advice as he prepared to begin coursework in the fall.

When they left, later in the afternoon, they both had the necessary forms and had made the necessary contacts.

Dan drove on the way back, and they arrived at his home around midnight. Karel crashed in Dan's room for five hours before driving home in the morning.

On the way home, he complained a bit to God:

"Why didn't I try harder to strike up a conversation with her?"

It didn't feel right, did it?

"If I were smooth like Dan, I could have gotten her phone number, I'm sure. Why can't I be smooth like him?"

Dan said it himself, he's not particularly successful at getting married yet, either.

Karel didn't have a quick response to that. Further bickering with his conscience and his social senses and more fussing with the impressions he was getting led him back to the same place. Not asking for her phone number was the right thing.

Ultimately, he said, "Well, Father, like Dan said, if it's something that should happen for me, I'd sure like another chance to make her acquaintance."

He could have described the response he felt as a galactic "Hmmmm."

Both Dan and Karel spent a lot of the time over the next eight months preparing to go back to school.

They made another trip about four weeks after their first trip, to hand-deliver their applications, because it was a little close to the deadline. Even though they were there the same day as Bobbie, Karel didn't meet her again. Dan didn't run into her, either, now that I mention it.

Karel wanted to live on campus, and Dan wanted to live off campus, so after they submitted their applications, they each spent part of the day separately arranging for housing and checking out possible work opportunities.

I explained a little about what a "mission" is, when we met Bobbie.

I forgot to mention there that a missionary's field of labor, the area where a group of missionaries serve, is also called a "mission" in E-P-ist parlance.

There are two parallel organizations within the Church. One is focused on the ministry to-and-of the members, and one is focused on the missionary work.

In the latter organization, a "mission" is a physical area and the missionaries assigned to work there. The country corollary to Japan, for instance, would much later be divided into seven physical areas called missions, and the country corollary to the Philippines would be divided into twenty-one. Each of those missions would have around fifty to a hundred fifty missionaries working in it.

At the time Karel would have served his mission in the world of this novel, the two countries corollary to the Philippines and Japan were both within a single mission. Later, during the time that Bobbie would have been serving her mission, they were split. Both served for a time in the Japan and the Philippines of their world. But they spent most of their time in other islands which are a bit harder to relate to places in our world.

TOC

[This part is backed up here: http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/backup-soc500-01-02-karel.html.]

[The original of this chapter can be found here: http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch02-introducing.html.]

Backup: Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 2 -- Introducing Karel

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At the time Karel would have served his mission in the world of this novel, the two countries corollary to the Philippines and Japan were both within a single mission. Later, {replace}when{with}during the time that{replace.} Bobbie would have been serving her mission, they {replace}would have been separate{with}were split{replace.}. Both served {replace}briefly in their Japan and in their Philippines, but{with}for a time in the Japan and the Philippines of their world. But they{replace.} spent most of their time in other islands{delete}, most of{delete.} which are a bit harder to relate to places in our world.

[JMR201702261143: end-edits -- mission details]

[JMR201702261143: backup of http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/soc500-01-02-karel.html.]

TOC

Previous

Two more people we want to meet, here.

It didn't feel right, did it?

"If I were smooth like Dan, I could have gotten her phone number, I'm sure. Why can't I be smooth like him?"

Dan said it himself, he's not particularly successful at getting married yet, either.

I explained a little about what a "mission" is, when we met Bobbie.

I forgot to mention there that a missionary's field of labor, the area where a group of missionaries serve, is also called a "mission" in E-P-ist parlance.

There are two parallel organizations within the Church. One is focused on the ministry to-and-of the members, and one is focused on the missionary work.

In the latter organization, a "mission" is a physical area and the missionaries assigned to work there. The country corollary to Japan, for instance, would much later be divided into seven physical areas called missions, and the country corollary to the Philippines would be divided into twenty-one. Each of those missions would have around fifty to a hundred fifty missionaries working in it.

At the time Karel would have served his mission in the world of this novel, the two countries corollary to the Philippines and Japan were both within a single mission. Later, when Bobbie would have been serving her mission, they would have been separate. Both served briefly in their Japan and in their Philippines, but spent most of their time in other islands, most of which are a bit harder to relate to places in our world.

TOC

[No backup of previous versions yet.]

[The original of this chapter can be found here: http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch02-introducing.html.]
[JMR201702261143: end-backup]

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 1 -- Introducing Bobbie

TOC

Well, let's meet Roberta Whitmer.

Bobbie entered the anthropology department office and looked around. Near the receptionist's desk was a rack of pamphlets, catalogs, and other informational material. On one side of the rack sat a young woman distractedly reading pamphlets. Bobbie guessed she was waiting to talk with a member of the faculty or a counselor.

On the other side of the rack sat a rather good-looking guy reading admissions materials. He looked like he could be a football player, although he was probably several years too old to still be playing for the university. There was an empty chair beside him.

As she walked in past him, he looked up and nodded an absent-minded greeting, then returned to his reading.

The receptionist was friendly.

"Hi! How may I help you?"

Bobbie smiled back and approached her desk. "Yes. I'd like some information on graduate programs. I have a bachelor's in nursing from," and she named a well-known school with a nursing program, "and a master's in dance from," and she named another school with a moderately well-known dance program, "and I'd like to pursue a PhD here in anthropology, focus on island politics."

The receptionist took a note in her logbook and said, "Well, I don't think we have a program specific to island politics, but we do have ongoing fieldwork in different islands around the world. Let me give you some general information on graduate studies in the department, and I could schedule an appointment for you with one of our graduate advisors."

"I would like that, please."

"My name is Melissa Burns, by the way. May I have your name, please?"

"Roberta Whitmer. I go by Bobbie."

Bobbie took the materials offered and sat down next to the maybe-football-player to read them. He looked up, smiled politely, and said, "Nice day, isn't it?" to which Bobbie agreed. She felt a little disconcerted, but a little relieved, when he went back to reading without further effort at conversation.

Mrs. Burns excused herself for a moment and was soon back.

"Miss Whitmer, do you have time now? Professor MacVittie, who is one of our professors working in island societies, is available for a few minutes."

"That would be wonderful."

"This way, please." Mrs. Burns took Bobbie to a nearby office.

"Miss Whitmer, sir."

"Thank you Mrs. Burns. Please show her in."

Bobbie thanked Mrs. Burns as she entered the professor's office. She extended her hand to the professor, who shook it warmly. "Thank you for meeting me, sir. Please call me Bobbie."

"Nice to meet you, Bobbie. I'm Sheldon MacVittie. Please sit down and tell me a little about yourself and why you are interested in our graduate program."

Both Bobbie and the professor sat down, and Bobbie introduced herself. "As I mentioned to Mrs. Burns, I am a nurse. I'm a registered nurse and certified midwife in both this state and my home state. I have a bachelor's degree in nursing, and a master's degree in dance."

"Nursing and dance? That's quite a combination."

"I've liked dance and sports ever since I was a cheerleader in high school."

"Okay. Cheerleading, as well. So you already have a broad range of interests."

"Yes. I, uhm, served a Church service mission in," and she named a mission that included a lot of island area, "and I spent a considerable amount of time in the islands there. I found life there interesting, and I've been doing some limited research in island politics on my own for the past year."

"I see. Do you have a curriculum vitae with you?"

"Yes, I do."

"May I look it over?"

Bobbie gave him her CV and he scanned it for a few minutes, nodding and asking questions.

"And you're certified to fly."

"It's a kind of hobby. My dad encouraged me, and helped me get certified. I've sometimes flown for his business, although I haven't been able to fly much since getting a job as a nurse."

"Such a broad range of interests. I'd almost say too broad. Has anyone ever accused you of lacking in focus?" And he gave the CV back to her.

"Not really, I work hard at everything I do.

"Well enough, but you are looking to enter a field for which your training in physical education and nursing will have only partially prepared you. Not only that, but you will find the terminology, and even the ways of thinking, somewhat foreign."

"I am aware of that. As I mention in my CV, much of my work in dance involved ethnic dance. That and the languages and cultures I learned as a missionary have been a kind of springboard into anthropology. I have read an introductory text in anthropology," and she named a textbook he knew, "and I think I can see, for instance, how the four fields of physiology, archeology, linguistics, and culture interrelate. I'm not sure yet whether I agree with the four-field point of view of anthropology, but I can appreciate it."

"Okay, so you probably have one freshman-level class out of the way."

"I've been specifically preparing, reading other college textbooks on the undergraduate curriculum -- cultures of the world, symbolism and symbolics, morals and ritual, family relationships, the anthropological view of physiology, psychology, economics, politics in particular, religion as a topic outside E-P-ism, quantitative methods, and so forth."

"Where did you find time?"

"I've been carrying a textbook with me whenever I went anywhere, including work. I learned to speed-read a long time ago. It's not emotionally satisfying, but it gets the job done."

"Okay," the professor smiled, "I get the picture that you are not just daydreaming."

"I know I'm going to have to work hard to get ready for graduate level work. I'm weak in quantitative analysis, so I'm assuming I'll be taking that among the undergraduate classes I'll need. Hopefully, I can get by with just monitoring linguistics. Maybe you can give me some suggestions for additional preparation before I start attending classes next fall."

This satisfied Professor MacVittie, and they discussed some non-textbook reading which he thought might help her.

Bobbie said she would come in to talk with him again before enrolling in fall.

At the end of the interview, he encouraged her to submit an application and promised to see that the appropriate members of the department reviewed it. He encouraged her to talk with him again for advice, and they shook hands again, and Bobbie left.

On her way out, she stopped back by the department office to make sure she had the application documents, instructions, and other materials she needed. The maybe-football-player was no longer there.

At Mrs. Burns suggestion, she worked through the application forms before she left, filling out most of them so that she would have fewer questions when she returned home. She also left her name, address, and phone number, in case Professor MacVittie wanted to contact her.

Then she returned to the parking lot. She had borrowed the family car for the three-hour trip south from her hometown to the school, and she took time to look around campus, look at apartments in town, and so forth.

Before she left town, she stopped by the hospital, to ask if they might be interested in hiring her part-time in a year. Of course, there were no promises, but she was able to introduce herself to some of the regular staff.

When she returned home, her mom was in the living room, reading a book.

"How did it go?"

"Well enough. I met a professor, met some people at the hospital down there, and got a look at the town. Brought home a lot of application paperwork."

"Meet any interesting guys?"

"No, of course not." She laughed. "Well, sort of. There was this guy in the department office who was probably also getting ready to apply for post-grad work. He said hi, but that was it."

"He didn't hit on you?"

"No. Didn't ask for my phone number, didn't even introduce himself. Nice looking guy, too. Almost everyone I met was very nice. Almost as nice as being at Church here. Maybe I'll like it there."

She spent the next several weeks working on the application forms, making another CV for the application, and so forth. About a month later, she had her application ready, and returned to the university to submit it.

Several months later, when she received approval to start taking classes in preparation for becoming a PhD candidate, she gave initial notice at the hospital where she was working and got her dad to help her buy her own car.

Later, she went back to the university and made arrangements for an apartment off-campus for her first year. She met one of the women who would be her roommates during that first year, a petite, active blonde named Kristie Person, who was finishing her bachelor's in Physical Education and was getting ready for master's level work in Education.

She was able to arrange to work on call as a midwife for emergency deliveries, and to work at the hospital there on the weekends, to help stretch her savings and keep her skills fresh.

From the time she went to get the application forms and materials until she started actually taking classes was about eight months. (These days, in our world, that would be a rather short time. Back then in hers it wasn't especially short or long.)

Sometime that summer, her mother showed her an interview article in the newspaper about one of the students who would be beginning graduate studies at OHU at the same time as she would. He was a former football player at the school named Karel Pratt, who had spent two years in professional football while completing his master's degree in engineering, and would now be seeking a PhD in the same field she was choosing, anthropology.

He had been working for more than two years as an engineer, in the new field of semiconductor fabrication. But the company he had been working for failed, and he had decided to take the opportunity to pursue a new field.

The article had been picked up by the national press because he was an example of football players who were pursuing careers in academics during and after their professional football careers.

About this "mission" thing: The E-P-ists had a program similar to the Mormons' missionary program. In the time frame this story is set in, many young, single E-P-ist men would take two to five years out of the time they would usually be spending in college or starting work to serve as full-time proselyting missionaries. The Church was not yet emphasizing the idea that every young man should prepare for and serve a mission, but it was by no means an unusual thing to do.

Serving a mission was for them an expression of their faith in their Lord and in His Church.

Young, single E-P-ist women at that time were generally not encouraged to go on missions. Their first mission was considered to be in the home.

Unfortunately, there was often a bit of social stigma associated with women who went on missions. Women serving proselyting missions were often considered by the gossips in their home wards to be "past their prime" days for being courted -- or some such silliness.

However, a service mission was a little different, often being considered, socially speaking, as a recognition of skills that the woman had developed. Single women who had qualified to work as nurses or in other service capacities would, in fact, often be recruited to serve in areas of the world where medical or other services were needed and hard to get. A proselyting mission was "for women who hadn't been trying hard enough" -- according to the wags. But a service mission was obviously different.

Now, in their fields of labor, the women who served as either proselyting or service missionaries were generally seen as the mortal equivalent of angels. "A prophet is not without honor, but in her own country and among her own kin," as the scripture goes.

Which just goes to show that gossip is a bad thing, even in a good church. Especially in a good church.

It would be several years later that women in general began to be encouraged to serve missions, and the artifact social stigma would begin to be eased.

Didn't I say it would be quick? We'll get to learn more about Bobbie and Kristie as we go.

TOC

[Previous versions backed up here: http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/02/backup-soc500-01-01-bobbie.html.]

[The original of this chapter can be found here: http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.com/2016/05/economics-101-novel-ch01-introducing.html.]

Backup: Sociology 500, a Romance, ch 1 pt 1 -- Introducing Bobbie

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Sociology 500, a {replace}Novel{with}Romance{replace.}, ch 1 pt 1 -- Introducing Bobbie

[JMR201704121434: end metadata edit.]

[JMR201704121243: edit -- Probably unnecessary text.]

Well, let's meet Roberta Whitmer.{delete} This will go kind of fast, so keep your eyes open as we go.{delete.}

[JMR201704121243: end-edit.]

[JMR201703082201: edits -- more cleanup.]

On the other{add} of the rack{add.} sat a rather good-looking guy reading admissions materials. He looked like he could be a football player, although he was probably {replace}a couple of{with}several{replace.} years too old to still be playing for the university. There was an empty chair beside him.

---------

As she walked in{add} past him{add.}, he looked up and nodded {replace}absently and{with}an absent-minded greeting, then{replace.} returned to his reading.

---------

"{replace}Hello. May{with}Hi! How may{replace.} I help you?"

---------

"I am aware of that. As I mention in my CV, much of my work in dance involved ethnic dance. That and the languages and cultures I learned as a missionary have been a kind of springboard into anthropology. I have read an introductory text in {replace}archeology{with}anthropology{replace.}," and she named a textbook he knew, "and I think I can see, for instance, how the four fields of physiology, archeology, linguistics, and culture interrelate. I'm not sure yet whether I agree with the four-field point of view of anthropology, but I can appreciate it."

---------

This satisfied Professor MacVittie, and they discussed some non-textbook reading which he thought might help her{replace}, and she volunteered to visit the school several times for further advice before she would enroll{with}.

Bobbie said she would come in again to talk with him before enrolling{replace.} in fall.

At the end of the interview, he encouraged her to submit an application and promised to see that the appropriate members of the department reviewed it{replace}, and encouraged her to come to him again for further advice. Then{with}. He encouraged her to talk with him again for advice, and{replace.} they shook hands{add} again,{add.} and Bobbie left.

[JMR201703082201: end-edits]

[JMR201702031050: edits -- Changed Straitgate to E-P and made some minor adjustments. ]
As she walked in, he looked up and nodded absently, {strike}maybe a little tiredly,{strike.} and returned to his reading.

Bobbie gave him her CV and he scanned it {strike}over{strike.} for a few minutes, nodding and asking questions.

"I've been specifically preparing, reading other college textbooks on the undergraduate curriculum -- cultures of the world, symbolism and symbolics, morals and ritual, family relationships, the anthropological view of physiology, psychology, economics, politics in particular, religion as a topic outside {replace}Straitgatism{with}E-P-ism{replace.}, quantitative methods, and so forth."

About this "mission" thing: The {replace}Straitgates{with}E-P-ists{replace.} had a program similar to the Mormons' missionary program. In the time frame this story is set in, many young, single {replace}Straitgate{with}E-P-ist{replace.} men would take two to five years out of the time they would usually be spending in college or starting work to serve as full-time proselyting missionaries. The Church was not yet emphasizing the idea that every young man should prepare for and serve a mission, but it was by no means an unusual thing to do.

Young, single {replace}Straitgate{with}E-P-ist{replace.} women at that time were generally not encouraged to go on missions. Their first mission was considered to be in the home.

{replace}On the other hand{with}Now{replace.}, in their fields of labor, the women who served as either proselyting or service missionaries were generally seen as the mortal equivalent of angels. "A prophet is not without honor, but in her own country and among her own kin," as the scripture goes.

Didn't I say it would be quick? We'll get to learn more about {replace}her{with}Bobbie and Kristie{replace.} as we go.

{strike}Oh. Did I mention that she is beautiful? No? Hmm.

How about her new roommate, Kristie? No? Hmm.
{strike.}
[JMR201702031050: end-edits]

[JMR201702031050: backup of http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2017/01/soc500-01-01-bobbie.html before rework incidental to the Straitgate stuff.]

TOC

Well, let's meet Roberta Whitmer. This will go fast, so pay attention, ...

Bobbie entered the anthropology department office and looked around. Near the receptionist's desk was a rack of pamphlets, catalogs, and other informational material. On one side of the rack sat a young woman distractedly reading pamphlets. Bobbie guessed she was waiting to talk with a member of the faculty or a counselor.

On the other sat a rather good-looking guy reading admissions materials. He looked like he could be a football player, although he was probably a couple of years too old to still be playing for the university. There was an empty chair beside him.

As she walked in, he looked up and nodded absently, maybe a little tiredly, and returned to his reading.

The receptionist was friendly.

"Hello. May I help you?"

Bobbie smiled back and approached her desk. "Yes. I'd like some information on graduate programs. I have a bachelor's in nursing from," and she named a well-known school with a nursing program, "and a master's in dance from," and she named another school with a moderately well-known dance program, "and I'd like to pursue a PhD here in anthropology, focus on island politics."

The receptionist took a note in her logbook and said, "Well, I don't think we have a program specific to island politics, but we do have ongoing fieldwork in different islands around the world. Let me give you some general information on graduate studies in the department, and I could schedule an appointment for you with one of our graduate advisors."

"I would like that, please."

"My name is Melissa Burns, by the way. May I have your name, please?"

"Roberta Whitmer. I go by Bobbie."

Bobbie took the materials offered and sat down next to the maybe-football-player to read them. He looked up, smiled politely, and said, "Nice day, isn't it?" to which Bobbie agreed. She felt a little disconcerted, but a little relieved, when he went back to reading without further effort at conversation.

Mrs. Burns excused herself for a moment and was soon back.

"Miss Whitmer, do you have time now? Professor MacVittie, who is one of our professors working in island societies, is available for a few minutes."

"That would be wonderful."

"This way, please." Mrs. Burns took Bobbie to a nearby office.

"Miss Whitmer, sir."

"Thank you Mrs. Burns. Please show her in."

Bobbie thanked Mrs. Burns as she entered the professor's office. She extended her hand to the professor, who shook it warmly. "Thank you for meeting me, sir. Please call me Bobbie."

"Nice to meet you, Bobbie. I'm Sheldon MacVittie. Please sit down and tell me a little about yourself and why you are interested in our graduate program."

Both Bobbie and the professor sat down, and Bobbie introduced herself. "As I mentioned to Mrs. Burns, I am a nurse. I'm a registered nurse and certified midwife in both this state and my home state. I have a bachelor's degree in nursing, and a master's degree in dance."

"Nursing and dance? That's quite a combination."

"I've liked dance and sports ever since I was a cheerleader in high school."

"Okay. Cheerleading, as well. So you already have a broad range of interests."

"Yes. I, uhm, served a Church service mission in," and she named a mission that included a lot of island area, "and I spent a considerable amount of time in the islands there. I found life there interesting, and I've been doing some limited research in island politics on my own for the past year."

"I see. Do you have a curriculum vitae with you?"

"Yes, I do."

"May I look it over?"

Bobbie gave him her CV and he scanned it over for a few minutes, nodding and asking questions.

"And you're certified to fly."

"It's a kind of hobby. My dad encouraged me, and helped me get certified. I've sometimes flown for his business, although I haven't been able to fly much since getting a job as a nurse."

"Such a broad range of interests. I'd almost say too broad. Has anyone ever accused you of lacking in focus?" And he gave the CV back to her.

"Not really, I work hard at everything I do.

"Well enough, but you are looking to enter a field for which your training in physical education and nursing will have only partially prepared you. Not only that, but you will find the terminology, and even the ways of thinking, somewhat foreign."

"I am aware of that. As I mention in my CV, much of my work in dance involved ethnic dance. That and the languages and cultures I learned as a missionary have been a kind of springboard into anthropology. I have read an introductory text in archeology," and she named a textbook he knew, "and I think I can see, for instance, how the four fields of physiology, archeology, linguistics, and culture interrelate. I'm not sure yet whether I agree with the four-field point of view of anthropology, but I can appreciate it."

"Okay, so you probably have one freshman-level class out of the way."

"I've been specifically preparing, reading other college textbooks on the undergraduate curriculum -- cultures of the world, symbolism and symbolics, morals and ritual, family relationships, the anthropological view of physiology, psychology, economics, politics in particular, religion as a topic outside Straitgatism, quantitative methods, and so forth."

"Where did you find time?"

"I've been carrying a textbook with me whenever I went anywhere, including work. I learned to speed-read a long time ago. It's not emotionally satisfying, but it gets the job done."

"Okay," the professor smiled, "I get the picture that you are not just daydreaming."

"I know I'm going to have to work hard to get ready for graduate level work. I'm weak in quantitative analysis, so I'm assuming I'll be taking that among the undergraduate classes I'll need. Hopefully, I can get by with just monitoring linguistics. Maybe you can give me some suggestions for additional preparation before I start attending classes next fall."

This satisfied Professor MacVittie, and they discussed some non-textbook reading which he thought might help her, and she volunteered to visit the school several times for further advice before she would enroll in fall.

At the end of the interview, he encouraged her to submit an application and promised to see that the appropriate members of the department reviewed it, and encouraged her to come to him again for further advice. Then they shook hands and Bobbie left.

On her way out, she stopped back by the department office to make sure she had the application documents, instructions, and other materials she needed. The maybe-football-player was no longer there.

At Mrs. Burns suggestion, she worked through the application forms before she left, filling out most of them so that she would have fewer questions when she returned home. She also left her name, address, and phone number, in case Professor MacVittie wanted to contact her.

Then she returned to the parking lot. She had borrowed the family car for the three-hour trip south from her hometown to the school, and she took time to look around campus, look at apartments in town, and so forth.

Before she left town, she stopped by the hospital, to ask if they might be interested in hiring her part-time in a year. Of course, there were no promises, but she was able to introduce herself to some of the regular staff.

When she returned home, her mom was in the living room, reading a book.

"How did it go?"

"Well enough. I met a professor, met some people at the hospital down there, and got a look at the town. Brought home a lot of application paperwork."

"Meet any interesting guys?"

"No, of course not." She laughed. "Well, sort of. There was this guy in the department office who was probably also getting ready to apply for post-grad work. He said hi, but that was it."

"He didn't hit on you?"

"No. Didn't ask for my phone number, didn't even introduce himself. Nice looking guy, too. Almost everyone I met was very nice. Almost as nice as being at Church here. Maybe I'll like it there."

She spent the next several weeks working on the application forms, making another CV for the application, and so forth. About a month later, she had her application ready, and returned to the university to submit it.

Several months later, when she received approval to start taking classes in preparation for becoming a PhD candidate, she gave initial notice at the hospital where she was working and got her dad to help her buy her own car.

Later, she went back to the university and made arrangements for an apartment off-campus for her first year. She met one of the women who would be her roommates during that first year, a petite, active blonde named Kristie Person, who was finishing her bachelor's in Physical Education and was getting ready for master's level work in Education.

She was able to arrange to work on call as a midwife for emergency deliveries, and to work at the hospital there on the weekends, to help stretch her savings and keep her skills fresh.

From the time she went to get the application forms and materials until she started actually taking classes was about eight months. (These days, in our world, that would be a rather short time. Back then in hers it wasn't especially short or long.)

Sometime that summer, her mother showed her an interview article in the newspaper about one of the students who would be beginning graduate studies at OHU at the same time as she would. He was a former football player at the school named Karel Pratt, who had spent two years in professional football while completing his master's degree in engineering, and would now be seeking a PhD in the same field she was choosing, anthropology.

He had been working for more than two years as an engineer, in the new field of semiconductor fabrication. But the company he had been working for failed, and he had decided to take the opportunity to pursue a new field.

The article had been picked up by the national press because he was an example of football players who were pursuing careers in academics during and after their professional football careers.

About this "mission" thing: The Straitgates had a program similar to the Mormons' missionary program. In the time frame this story is set in, many young, single Straitgate men would take two to five years out of the time they would usually be spending in college or starting work to serve as full-time proselyting missionaries. The Church was not yet emphasizing the idea that every young man should prepare for and serve a mission, but it was by no means an unusual thing to do.

Serving a mission was for them an expression of their faith in their Lord and in His Church.

Young, single Straitgate women at that time were generally not encouraged to go on missions. Their first mission was considered to be in the home.

Unfortunately, there was often a bit of social stigma associated with women who went on missions. Women serving proselyting missions were often considered by the gossips in their home wards to be "past their prime" days for being courted -- or some such silliness.

However, a service mission was a little different, often being considered, socially speaking, as a recognition of skills that the woman had developed. Single women who had qualified to work as nurses or in other service capacities would, in fact, often be recruited to serve in areas of the world where medical or other services were needed and hard to get. A proselyting mission was "for women who hadn't been trying hard enough" -- according to the wags. But a service mission was obviously different.

On the other hand, in their fields of labor, the women who served as either proselyting or service missionaries were generally seen as the mortal equivalent of angels. "A prophet is not without honor, but in her own country and among her own kin," as the scripture goes.

Which just goes to show that gossip is a bad thing, even in a good church. Especially in a good church.

It would be several years later that women in general began to be encouraged to serve missions, and the artifact social stigma would begin to be eased.

Didn't I say it would be quick? We'll get to learn more about her as we go.

Oh. Did I mention that she is beautiful? No? Hmm.

How about her new roommate, Kristie? No? Hmm.

TOC

The original of this chapter can be found here.
[JMR201702031050: end-backup]

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